No Fear, no fun!

Last conference was an interesting one, more questions popping up among the crowd, and 3 teachers received certification for the year of 2012. It inspired me and felt touched a little, emotions stirring up.
They must have put in great deal of effort and commitment for years.

Someone raised up a question about fear, and how can we manage and handle fear during the practice.
Sharath chuckled and said, " No Fear, No Fun. Fear makes us learn, makes us more courageous, makes us more stronger. Especially during backbends, any backbends; where we face a great deal of fear, which is actually our own fear."

I've always treat fear as self- challenge, a chance for me to grow stronger as i so much want to dissolves any itsy bits of fear inside me. In the process, i do enjoy much when i witness how i expose the fear that i was hiding it sub- consciously. I enjoy backbends as much as i love the lightness in my heart:)

Fear, can be fun.
Fear brushes some colors in our life.
Fear brings us to a junction for a decision to grow or old.

I'm in the progress of digesting it:)

TGIM!

Thank Good Its Moonday!

Daily morning practice has been going more smoothly, and more intensely this week. Every practice, very thankful that i do get my drop- back adjusted; if no Sharath himself, it'll be Saraswati ( sharath's mother) or Adam ( student assistant). The first couple of day, i felt all is good... not too sore in the muscles.

Today, this morning, my heart is thumping hard, i was making effort to take long, deep breathing before diving down into the back bend. Adam was stand in front of my, hands lightly touching my lumber spine, as i crossed my arms in front of my chest and swung up and down three times.
With the last deep breath, i dropped back and dangle both of my arms in the mid- air.

Adam gripped my both wrists and led my arms so that i can grabbed my own ankles firmly. I quickly root my heels down, and i could feel my front thighs burning, my butt is heat up, and as much as i can stay in that position, i breath as if my chest was going to explode. No thought could intrude into my mind, accept to breathe.

At the 5th breath, i sprung up slowly, and a train of thoughts entered my mind. While i was making my way to a seated forward bend, and Adam was pressing me from the back to release the soreness... in that 10 breaths of forward bend...i thought:
" Oh gosh, i need a nap... i want some ice blended coffee, i want green tea latte from Starbucks, i need a hot oil massage, i want chocolate, i want coconut water, i just want to do nothing and sleep!"

Phew! Tomorrow is moon day, we get a day rest from the practice. And i'm going to try out the castor oil bath from one of the Ayuvedic Spa here. This is a traditional practice the local do every weekend and moon day. Let's see if i'll like it:)

Lift up your head and enjoy the view:)

Standing at the rooftop last night, lifted my head, looking up to the sky in a dark night. “ Whaoo….” I exclaimed silently. Yes, I exclaimed. Because back home, the night is too bright for the stars to be seen, the buildings are too tall for the sky to reveal itself. For once, I felt the muscles in my eyes started to relax.

First, I was looking at the brightest star, slowly; I see a lot other stars twinkling just as brightly.  Some were neatly in a row, like how close friends are; some are randomly being there independently. Then, I see more stars gradually appearing, filling up every space the sky has.

While keeping my eyes busy looking for the next star that twinkles; there’s a funny kind of calmness residing inside me.  And this feeling very much reminds me of how yoga comes about to me personally--- getting busy with it yet a sense of tranquility is in there.

 Ok, let’s not just say yoga…. Let’s say basically when we are in a stage of researching  more of ourselves.

Breathing beyond time

These days, i've been listening to different teachers sharing their thoughts on time; and concurrently i jut finish off a book about time ( The Time Keeper by mitch albom)... which makes all the little pieces of jigsaw puzzle making more sense.

A old music teacher who profession in Carnatic music;
Sharath, the teacher i'm practicing with here;
Laskmish, the teacher i attend for philosophy class...

A common point they mentioned all over again and again: Life beyond Time Frame.
The old music teacher mentioned how musicians today try to fit their songs and performances into the given time frame. When the music pieces are adjusted according to the rigidity of the time, the creativity part of the whole music creation disappears.

Similarly, both the yoga teachers pointed that one should practice not first build any time limitation for our own progression. As we travel beyond the hands of the time, we are in the moment, in the present. Neither fear nor hopeful for the future and past.

Bhajan bhajan!

This week is gotta be interesting!
Along the way, i get to know a couple of more people through friends. Though we are not from the same practice shala, there's one thing that brought us together i thought... that's is Music!

First a friend who coming from singapore brought us to a Hindustani music perfomance by where one one her relative is playing the tablah. At the same time, then with one more other friend who are getting into a friendly bhajan competition, this sunday! They were looking for one more person in the group, and there i am, joining them!

I've listen to bhajan, but not sing them. So far so good, i can work my vocal a little maasala way!
We're gonna perform some popular ones: Guru Mata Pita, Krishna Go Vinda Go, and Hari Sundara...
i like them:)

And so, we sat down, from trying out and selecting the songs that we suit the three of us, and a crash course for me. Luckily, Laskshmi is a really great singer, phew! We too invited a pair of father & son, Ganesh and Bharat to accompanying drum beats. Everything should sounds pretty well, huh?

Really thankful for them squeezing there time out ( given how busy Anu's Hut can be), for our little rehearsal last night:)

Alrighto! Let see how the event on Sunday will work out!

Fast Forward Practice

Yoga is 24 hours, 7 days. Yoga is not 1.5 hours of practice only. The practice does not stay within the four walls of the shala, it goes on outside the shala. Teacher Laskshmish had a discussion with us during the theory class.

Most of us started our yoga practice through physical movement, asana. And we thought that is what yoga is all about. He kept emphasizing that asana practice is just a tip of the iceberg, like what most teachers pointed out. Getting too caught up into the bodily practice, we become egoistic and competitive.

Teacher Laskshimish summed up clearly that asana helps releases body diseases, pranayama and meditation practices helps removes ego.  He gave a name for modern yoga practice in the society today “ Fast Forward Practice”. We want everything to come to us fast, we expect the teacher to provide all the information about the practice in one course, and using monetary as a transaction to shorten the actual learning curve.

A room filled with Body Canvases

Practice has been going well so far, i'm contented to have just enough assistance for my kumasana and deeper drop- back bendings ( which i can never did that myself at alone, not yet..!)

The yoga scene has been very interesting still, given the cold mornings; and rainy morning today, the heat in the shala is intense still. The wall is slippery wet and the windows are blurred by the condensation. My sweats are bursting out from my skin pores like usual, the air is heavy, with so many human heaters all around; the spirit and the energy are going strong!

Men practice topless, and females in their most comfortable yoga attire. Then as if i am walking through an art museum, ink work on body canvas. I remember while twisting to the right, there are "Aum" at any random person i laid my eyes on. As i did a upward dog, the person in from of me, has got a words in sanskrit says, " Ahimsa" ( non- violence).

Automatically, in my head, under my own breath, i trace the Sanskrit word, as what i learnt a little of my Hindi classes.. Ah- Him- Saa...oh...  that's non- violence. This all happened at just one deep inhale.... ( that how fast our mind can process information huh, interesting).

As i pulled back to downward facing dog, i brought myself back to my breaths again.

" Aum" is holds the champion of the most high usage. Almost most "modern yogis" will have this symbol somewhere on their body.

Next runner up is probably a verse from the yoga sutra 1.2 yoga citta vrtti nirodha ( Yoga is the cessation of the movement of the mind)

Would i get one for myself too? Never think about it yet... given i know how my fickle mind works, i'll probably regret inking my skin after a week. For now, i still like my body like a white sheet!

Nevertheless, i am looking forward to see the next creative body art in my next practice!